Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon

Dave Hause dwhause at JOBE.NET
Sat Jun 4 23:39:00 UTC 2011


Well, it's certainly a commonly recognized symptom (which may be found in
several different conditions) in the psychiatric literature, but I'm a
pathologist, not a psychiatrist or neurologist, and I don't own a copy of
DSM-IV (the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American
Psychiatric Association) and don't have online access at home.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2011 7:30 AM
Subject: Re: Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon


Is "confabulation" the term in the American Psychological Association
manual of authorized conditions?  :-)

Joel

At 6/3/2011 11:42 PM, Dave Hause wrote:
>I think you're referring to confabulation, which includes the subject not
>recognizing that what she says isn't factual.
>Dave Hause, dwhause at jobe.net
>Waynesville, MO
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 10:00 AM
>Subject: Re: Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon
>
>
>At 6/2/2011 05:09 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >A former prosecutor on Tru TV describes tot-mom Casey Anthony as
> >exhibiting
> >"what I call the Keyser-Soeze Phenomenon."
> >
> >KS is a central but off-screen character in _The Usual Suspects_ (1995).
> >IIRC, everybody describes him inconsistently.
> >What's Keyser really like? Who knows! All we know is that it's vitally
> >important.
> >
> >The allusion is to CA's seemingly preternatural ability to change her
> >story
> >about what happened to her daughter at the drop of a hat and without a
> >blink, while incorporating any details that the detectives happened to
> >present her with.
>
>Isn't there a standard term from the psychologists' and/or
>criminologists' collection for the latter part of the above -- taking
>what's told to you and re-presenting it as your own?  E.g. with CA,
>making your confession fit what you've learned. (And I don't mean
>"plagiarism".)
>
>Joel
>
> >The impression is that almost everything she says is a
> >lie, but she really really expects you to believe it.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >--
> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >truth."
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list